


A Belmont in Blood

by MysShadowDragon



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Adoption, Enemies to Friends, Gen, It gets better before it gets worse, Kid Fic, Oc to further the plot, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trevor fucking hates his step dad lol, Trevor would die for lisa, big brother trevor, gotta grow em up, in true castlevania style, it takes place over a long period of time, reluctantly, there never around for long, traumatized Trevor, very reluctantly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 05:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16886730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysShadowDragon/pseuds/MysShadowDragon
Summary: Lisa, on her way to meet the mysterious man that she’s heard might just have the knowledge she’s looking for, ends up finding herself wandering through a town in the throes of a witch-hunt. It happens that as she makes her way through the ends of town; she finds a young boy. Left with no other options Lisa takes the boy with her on her travels to find Dracula’s castle.(Lisa adopts baby Trevor story, but this time its before she's even gotten to the castle.)





	1. Chapter 1

It was the void empty look that had her slowing her horse, had her pulling down the scarf from her lips to stare at the small boy who was sitting tucked in a corner, motionless.

This was no night for a boy so young to be out, the beasts of the night were screeching with fervent joy. The village raising stakes to join the raucous calling in the night. The bright pyre in the center of the town having the distinct sent of burnt catfish - the smell of human flesh. 

It turned her stomach to even think of the horrors committed tonight, the sheer pain caused due to fear mongering. It was with a heavy heart that she left the homes and huts of the people behind her. Too late to knock some sense into the town that she had found herself drifting through. 

The rain that poured down was like a wall, enough to make her sensibilities on a higher power question if what had taken place by the churches own hand, if possibly God was displeased with what the church wrought. 

Shaking the thought and climbing down from her steed which shuffled at the sounds of the woods. She ran her hand down the horse's strong shivering neck to calm the beast.

Scooting close to her target who didn’t do more than shuffle closer into a ball, his arms tucking inside a thin shirt. Poor lad was soaked to the bone in what looked like his sleep clothes. Like he’d wandered out of the house in a daze.

“Are you-” She squatted down, only to lurch back as the kid seemed to come alive in motion only. His eyes still laced with a dead-eye stare.

“Come closer and I’ll stab you.” Was the hissed reply, a wicked gleaming knife being whipped from underneath the small shirt.

She backed up a stint at the slight snarl the lad had on his lips and she sighed, “You look lost, did you need a ride home?” She tried again and like cutting a marionette’s strings the boy dropped the knife.

The knife was of quality if the damage caused by such a small fall was anything to say. It fell, slicing through the boys' clothes like scissors through a flower petal and digging into the dirt by his foot. Red welling to the surface of the boy's foot telling her that it went straight through. 

Expecting to hear the scream of pain that only small children can produce she could feel her face crumple in confusion by the silence that pervaded her ears.

“Oh my!” She jumped into action rushing forward enough that she snatched the knife away from the boy’s reach, throwing it to the side near her horses impatient stomping.

“Oh no, this isn’t good at all… I don’t have anything on me that would help.” She tisked in frustration as she looked at the flaming red foot. The boy still remaining mute, just staring at her.

   “Well, I can't just leave this like that, I-I don’t want to take you away if you’re lost. Is there a healer in this village you can see?” She gently grasped the boy’s shoulder and for a second she saw the fear. The panic and the bone-deep horror that shouldn’t be able to speak through a child’s eyes. 

Something was afoot tonight, and she had a strong feeling there wasn’t a coincidence for such a young child of obvious high class to be wandering around lost in the muck.

“You need to have your foot looked at… I shouldn’t—who knows how he’ll react—I don’t even know how he’ll react to me, can’t just leave you here though…” She ran the situation through her mind. She was going to be a doctor, she can't leave such a vulnerable child to the mercies of the forest creatures or the creatures that had possessed the townsmen.

With a firm breath, she nodded and ripped her scarf from around her neck, the chill of the night air rushing to greet her warm skin. 

“This’ll have to do for now. I'm going to meet a man who, should everything go correctly, will give me the knowledge to help fix your foot.” She talked firmly to the boy who didn’t even fight her as she tightly wound her green scarf around the weeping foot.

“Don't worry little man, I’ll get you fixed up.” She smiled as she tied the makeshift bandage, “One way or another.”

As she reached her arms forward to grab the boy under his armpits, he moved and stared her in the eyes like he was looking for someone other than her. 

“Who are you?” He mumbled, confused like he’d been woken up from a deep sleep by her.

“Lisa, and you?”

“You’re not Lisa.” The response was so flat that it nearly hurt to hear come from a child. 

“I most certainly am, have been all my life.” She smiled again this time managing to scoop the lad up who only put the minutest of battles. The heat that poured off such a small body giving her a reason to suspect why that lack of battle was.

“You’re not my sister.” she was met with a small pounding of tiny fists on her shoulder. With a frown, that the boy couldn’t see as she tucked him against her chest.

“I'm sorry, no I’m not your sister Lisa, I’m a different Lisa.” She said it slowly trying to let the feverous boy grasp what she said and it seemed like he did as he slumped into the hold.

“Oh.” 

“Where is your sister?” Lisa asked hoping for a way out of toting a young sick child to her destination. She wasn’t certain she’d be hitting any more towns, yet it was nearly certain that she’d need to if she brought him along.

The boy shook his head into her shoulder and tried to bury deeper into Lisa’s arms. 

Reaching her horse again she looked back from the way she’d come, to where the night sky was orange with fire and shadows danced in the background. With an angry sigh, Lisa tipped her head down to look at the elaborate knife that he’d had stashed on him. It would be a shame to leave it in the muck. 

With a quick movement, she bent down with the unnamed boy still in her arms to pick up the blade. The shine managing to gleam through the dirt. It was heavy and weighted; she didn’t need to be a practitioner of the blade to know it was high quality. 

She’d want to believe the lad stole the blade over what the current line of thought pointed to. His soft white silk night clothes and terror of the town were the nails in the coffin that left Lisa with a sorrow deep in her chest. 

Mounting her horse with ease, surprising her as she straddled the large animal, she attempted to settle the young boy into an easy position to ride with. It was difficult, but after mainly tucking him entirely into her coat as a personal warmer. The darkness consuming her and her compatriot.

Lisa, kicking the horse into a canter, set off into the twilight to find an alleged monster with the last heir to a clan of heathen hunters. Lisa would be fine, and so would the boy. She’d make sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lisa, on her way to meet the mysterious man that she’s heard might just have the knowledge she’s looking for, ends up finding herself wandering through a town in the throes of a witch-hunt. It happens that as she makes her way through the ends of town; she finds a young boy. Left with no other options Lisa takes the boy with her on her travels to find Dracula’s castle.
> 
> (Trevor is a little shit and Lisa's tired of it, so is the monster in the woods.)

The brat nearly refused to give Lisa his name, it took a full two days of gentle prodding and coaching to have Trevor speak with her. Another delayed week as the fever that had been chasing his tail caught up to him forcing Lisa to take a detour to a small village for aid. It was a violent sickness that had Trevor in tears. Crying out for his family in delusions and night terrors. It had Lisa shivering in fearful sympathy. 

She did her best to assist the healer she’d found. Comforting Trevor even when he didn’t seem to recognize her. It was a rough few days, but when his fever broke and his foot was tended to it still seemed like Trevor met Lisa with steadfast rejection of her efforts. A bull pushing against a rock.

Trevor, refusing to answer the most basic questions, snapped at her when she braved asking him about his family name. Knowledge is only knowledge when it’s confirmed as the truth. The anger and posturing was enough of an answer that she could make the assumption that her assumption was correct. In a gesture of goodwill, Lisa offered her own life’s tale, speaking to him when he refused to make eye contact with her.

When they left the small healer’s hut, Lisa handed what coin she had left to the matronly lady. Thanking her profusely for taking them in for so long. It was amazing the healer would help them even without a full payment. 

Trevor stood distantly beside her, watching with something close to disdain until she’d passed over the coins. With a furtive look between them, Trevor seemed to curl into himself and Lisa couldn’t for the life of her figure out why he seemed so ashamed.

As she turned to leave, her hand on Trevor’s shoulder to direct him towards her stabled horse, he broke free with a small shrug. Placing a fist over his chest and one behind his back, a smooth change, the boy bowed. The healer blinked in surprise at the formal thanks he muttered to the ground. Lisa’s own eyebrows shooting up at the scene.

The sputterings of sadness bubbled up in her throat. Trevor had lost everything, Lisa realizing how much of a shock it must be to a boy raised like royalty in Wallachia until about a week ago.

“My, such polite manners for such a rude little boy…” The healer laughed at the door and Trevor broke his bow to glare. “There’s the fire,” She ruffled his hair all while Trevor smacked at her hands to stop her.

With a faint smile she sat her hands on her hips and nodded - a job well done, “Now go on, quit stinking up my doorway and go follow your mum.” She said and Lisa flinched at the same time Trevor stopped moving. 

“Oh, no-n-no, I’m not-“ Lisa tried to correct the lady but, with a faint smile she’d closed the door. Air caught in her throat, awkward and nervous in the same second. Trevor shifting beside her, the two of them darkening the doorstep.

“Old Hag,” Trevor growled

“Trevor.” Lisa snapped back more out shock that such a small boy, she still hadn’t gotten a solid age from him yet, would say such a crass thing.

His fiery gaze, that flicked up, tempered back down to mere frustration, scuffing his uninjured foot on the ground. Dirt sailing into the air to settle haphazardly.

Lisa rolled her eyes, sighing and walked to her horse, figuring that Trevor would catch up once he was done whatever internal battle he was dealing with. 

Lisa was wrong in thinking Trevor would sulk. He might as well have been stepping on her heels. He was close enough she worried he might melt into her shadow. Almost opening her mouth to ask if he wanted to be picked up she stopped herself. He was probably older than that age. Not that she’d know with him being too stubborn and refusing to tell her.

Once they were both up on the horse, the town a faded picture in their minds, Trevor riding astride in front of her did she hear of the frustrating news. Her target had moved places - again.

A frustrated stomp in the dirt after the speakers she’d found told her the news brought Trevor over. It seemed like anger magnetized to him, like any sniff of it had him in the thick of it. 

“What’re you angry for?” He asked, his arms crossed, trying to judge her somehow.

“It’s bloody moved again,” She said under her breath, covering her eyes with a hand as the Speaker caravan seemed to bleed into the distance on the long dirt trail they were on. The sun craning over the trees and her horse tied to a stump on the side, resting.

“Moved? You’re looking for something? I thought we were just wandering.” Trevor asked with more curiosity in his voice than she’d heard in a while.

Sighing, Lisa shook her head, “I’ve told you before that I’m trying to find someone.”

“Yeah, but you said it’s not they. So are you trying to find some _thing_ or some _one_?” Trevor said and Lisa huffed, nodding along. She had said that.

“I guess it’s both, if I find something then I’ll find that someone.” She said and Trevor nodded. He seemed to pause for a second, Lisa rose an eyebrow as the boy seemed to get over some internal block. A solid sniff from Trevor, he rubbed his nose.

“Well… I’m a good tracker.” Trevor wrinkled his nose up again, “so I can help.” He finished confidently and Lisa giggled at the strong look he had on. Trevor thought he should take on the world. It was nice of him to offer to help though. It would even be feasible that it was a step forward.

“What? I am!” Trevor shouted back throwing his hands up.

Lisa smiled and placatingly raised her own hands, “I’m certain you are,”

“You don’t believe me,” Trevor groused under his breath, hair falling into his eyes.

“No no I do, really Trevor, I do, but I’m not sure even you could track what I’m looking for.” Even if the boy was the strongest candidate to do so.

“What are you looking for, you said it moved, so what is it like a wagon or a caravan?” 

Lisa shook her head as she swept in close to Trevor and threw him up on the horse. He let her do it. That seemed like an improvement over the last couple days when he’d almost bitten her for trying it. She untied the horse’s reins, handing them up to Trevor who handled them with more prowess than she’d expected.

“Not really, it’s more like a big house from what I’ve heard.”

“A big house that moves.” Trevor said and Lisa nodded realizing how weird that sounded, but she wasn’t willing to tell him, a born and bred monster hunter, vampire killer extraordinaire, that she was seeking Dracula’s castle. He’d convince himself she was taking him there to die if he knew what it was. 

“Kind of like Castlevania?” He let it slip out like a common conversation piece. His eyes widening though belayed that he realized how that sounded coming from such a young boy. 

“No-not that I-“ He stuttered suddenly, looking like she’d caught him performing magic. They both knew it was taboo knowledge. Normally knowing such things would get you a lashing. Trevor knowing such things is a death sentence.

“Yeah just like that.” Lisa tried to play it off cool, like his off the tongue comment wasn’t what she was looking for and that she didn’t care that such a young boy was privy to weird information on the occult. That the knife in her book bag and the fancy silken clothes he was wearing didn't scream Belmont.

It seemed to work though as Trevor released the building pressure in his shoulders with a quiet huff. It hurt Lisa that he still felt like he needed to hide even after two full weeks in her care. She tried to soothe her own bristling feelings with the idea that Trevor had good reasons to be skittish. It was smart. Even if wasn’t needed around her.

“Really?” He asked confused

“Yeah, there’s a man there that has materials and information I need to become a doctor.”

“I don’t know why you don’t just find a healer and learn from them. That old hag probably would’ve been willing to teach you…” Trevor said with vitriol at the mention of the nice healer who’d helped them.

“Yes I could, but I’m not looking to learn that kind of healing. I’ve heard this man has learned so much more. More than just hopes and prayers. More than the church.” Lisa said with a fire in her eyes. 

“More than just the church?” Trevor mumbled under his breath, 

Lisa hummed to his response, expecting it, she’d learned just by brushing by wagons full of church members how soured Trevor had become to the church. She couldn’t blame him either.

“He doesn’t believe in the church?” Trevor whispered as Lisa hoisted herself up onto the horse, taking the reins from Trevor and setting them at a brisk trot.

“I sorely doubt he does.” She said with steel in her voice. Dracula would be the one man who would cast aside the lies and really know the truth. Really how to help people.

“I want to come.” Trevor said, hands on his hips and Lisa laughed.

“Well terrible news for you, you didn’t have a choice.”

Trevor snorted and shook his head, but a pleased look settled on his face. Lisa wondered just how pleased he’d be when she let the cat loose. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too tragically struck.

There were a few more days on the road, the longer they travelled the more ornery Trevor became. She’d watched him viciously break a branch off a tree he’d walked into. The branch being snapped multiple times over his knee before setting it on fire. 

He also got himself kicked by the horse when he should’ve been brushing the grime off the poor animals hide. Lisa hadn’t heard the screaming because in retaliation Trevor had tied the poor horse in the middle of the dusty road. Doing it so the horse couldn’t reach any grass. Lisa had only figured out he’d been kicked when she’d demanded that he wash his shirt a day later and his chest was a mess of black and blue.

She thanked her lucky stars at points; she’d tucked Trevor’s knife deep into a stack of books. The books repelled the boy like fire. Fire wasn’t a good analogy though as Trevor set his hair on fire the time she’d asked him to start a campfire while she went to look for water. He’d been trying to cut his hair using the fire instead of a knife. She’d almost lost her mind at the sheer stupidity. Trevor wasn‘t thrilled that she’d forced him into running laps around the makeshift camp as both a de facto punishment and something to burn the frustrated energy off.

It didn't work.

Lisa became more worn to Trevor’s machinations and comments. There was only so much somebody would take when stuck on a horse half the day and camping in the wild the other half.

“I don’t want jerky.” Trevor turned his nose up at the food Lisa offered, twitching, she retracted her hand.

“It’s that or nothing.” She said with tempered frustration.

“It wouldn’t be nothing if you’d let me go hunting.” He growled back, digging his hands into his lap.

“It still the same answer as the past three nights. We are in the middle of nowhere if you so much as trip and hurt yourself what am I supposed to do to help you. I’ve used all the rest of the supplies on your other expenditures.” Lisa groused staring at Trevor who huffed twisting his hands into his pants more.

“I won’t hurt myself! I’ve been hunting since I could walk.”

“For all you’ve told me Trevor that could’ve been two years ago.”

“I’m not that young!” Trevor shouted back which Lisa sighed at.

“Well, I don’t know that do I Trevor?”

“I don’t need to tell you shit!” Trevor shouted back and Lisa’s simmering glare turned into molten steel.

“Trevor.” She said with a warning tone, she was just about done with his tantrums.

“Lisa.” He mocked back crossing his arms and staring back. Trevor was all about challenging anything that breathed. Hell, the kid would challenge a flower if it fought back.

“I do not have to bring you with me. I don’t need your life story Trevor, but at least tell me your age. Or maybe what your favourite food is. You need to open up a little or smarten up before—“

“Before what, you leave me in the forest,” Trevor threw his hand out “You wouldn’t.” 

“You’re right I wouldn’t. I can, however, find a nice town to drop you off at.” Lisa said back, she would rather cut off a finger then leave Trevor somewhere now, but he was just so resistant to her. It wasn’t the first time she wondered if maybe Trevor didn’t like her. She’d never explained why she’d picked him up. Maybe he thought she kidnapped him. 

Trevor let loose an angry snarl staring down at his lap, Lisa sighed as he slid into a sullen silence. The fire crackling between them; Embers pulsating on the ground. They didn’t have enough kindling to last the night, and the air was getting colder. As it was, she saw her breath in the fire’s glow.

Trevor still had nothing on his back other than the jacket she’d found to go overtop his sleep clothes. She’d used all her funds to have that healer help him, it’s been nearly a month of travelling with her and the poor kid was living in tattered silk. The hems of his pants equal parts burnt and ripped. 

It’s been a guilt that’s been nagging at her stomach. She had picked up Trevor, took him with her. To take him somewhere, she could admit in the back of her head, was most likely not the safest place for him. She’d wanted to help Trevor that night, to heal him, to spirit him away from the horrors that plagued the town he came from - but now he’s healed.

He was healthy; he was farther away than he needed to be. Lisa had no reason to keep dragging him around. It’d been a month of constant questions, head-butting, and grumbles as Trevor went about his day with her dreadful oversight. 

Lisa, of course, had fed and made sure he kept clean. Fixed him up when he set himself on fire too. She’d done those things out of necessity though. He needed to ride the horse too so he couldn’t be falling off because of starvation. She wouldn’t be able to stomach eating if a kid was hungry, anyway. She forced him to clean himself as riding for days on the same horse lead to a sensitive nose, not to mention she’d read that the cleaner a person was the less likely they would catch something. 

She should leave Trevor in the next town she found. They would care for him in an orphanage better than she ever could. Leave him with people who didn’t have ambitious goals. People who knew how to interact with a broken child.

She watched Trevor fidgeting on the ground, his god awful hair shortened on one side because of the fire and his other half messy like a wild dog. Travelling like this wasn’t healthy for a kid.

“Trevor, I need to go find wood. Don’t leave camp.” She said staring down at the small boy who grumbled but didn’t move.

She rolled her eyes as she grabbed a stick from the clearing catching it on fire. It wouldn’t last long, but she’d get a distance to find good kindling. Marching into the woods with a purpose. The dimming campfire being suffused by the darkness, her branch burning too low for her to hold any more.

Turning the stick around the fire raging up towards her hand she drove the fire into the mud, the light snuffing out with a slop. The nightlife sounds seeming to swell in the pitch black. Walking further into the darkness had her sighing to herself.

She didn’t know what to do with Trevor. She knew what her heart told her, but her heart had led her astray so many times. Her head though was just too cruel to make a middle ground.

Even with all of Trevor’s bullshit, he’d made her dim journey a lot more lively. A lot more difficult too.

Finding a broken tree, snarled and cracked from what looked like lightning Lisa set to work snapping branches and grabbing dry pieces. Setting each piece aside on top of a tree to keep the sludge off of the sticks. She was miserable enough out in the cold; she didn’t need to add mud to the equation.

It was the tug on her sleeve that had her jumping a foot in the air, a startled aborted scream echoing around them. 

Twisting to see what grabbed her, she could feel her heart rate pick up.

“Jesus Christ, Trevor!” Lisa hissed, her hand laying over her heart. The fright had her fighting her nerves while her anger simmered. 

“Shut up.” Trevor said back, his voice cracking.

Lisa glared until she caught a reflection in the dark; her eyes being drawn to the gleaming silver knife which Trevor held in a tight grip.

“Where did you find that,” Lisa went to grab for the knife, trying to get it out of his hands being that he was the most accident-prone child she’d ever met.

“The horse,” Trevor whispered, his knife hand moving out of her way while the rest of him snuck in even closer to her legs. He plastered himself to her side and as she put her hand on his shoulder to stop him from wiggling away, she felt the tremors running through him.

“Trevor?” She asked a little more concerned, crouching down to look at him.

He turned to look at her for a second. Though the faint moonlight which slipped between the thick branches Lisa could see it. The gash that sliced over his eye, dripping blood that mixed with tears. 

Sucking a tight breath between her teeth she searched for any other major injuries. Not seeing anything else critical she opened her mouth to ask what happened when a cracking sound that was far too repetitive to be natural echoed around the clearing they were in.

Trevor tensed, virtually standing on her feet, but he held the silver knife with both hands in front of himself. Some stance she was sure, but his breathing gave away just how terrified he was. 

Teeth clenched, she grabbed a branch from her pile brandishing it over top of Trevor’s head as she stood up. Focusing on the crackling noise that sounded like breaking bones, trying to pick out where it was coming from.

If they ran, like her shaking hands told her too, they’d die lost in the forest. She’d always stayed to the path at night, worried that a creature might lurk deep in the woods. Humans she could reason with, could survive. A beast was another matter.

Weighing her options she considered staying quiet, hoping it wouldn’t find them, but that was a cloud in a dream. 

“Trevor—“ She whispered quietly, and she felt him shift as she focused on the dark woods around her. “What is it?”

“A Jersey—I’m s-sorry, it’s my fault…” 

“Now’s not the time, how do we get out of this alive?” Lisa asked a little more jittery. Whether it was a blessing or a curse she’d been touting around a tiny monster hunter, she wasn’t sure. She still didn’t want Trevor in this situation, but it was too late. 

She could admit when she was outclassed even if it was by a small bratty child.

“What? Why are you—“ Trevor looked back up at her, the blood coating the side of his face and dripping down his neck.

“Trevor, right now you’re running the show. What do we do?” Lisa tried to keep the stress out of her voice, to pass what little confidence she had onto the small boy. Not a fair situation, but if it were up to her, she’d just beat whatever was coming with a stick.

There was a moment of silence before Trevor shuffled, his feet sliding in the dirt. 

“I’m gonna hide in a tree, you stand underneath of me and when it finds you. Run. I’m gonna jump on it.”

Lisa didn’t like the plan one bit, but Trevor was already scuttling up the side of a tree and edging onto a branch. The crunching noises coming from the now silent woods becoming louder. A rasping breathing following each crackle.

A shiver ran up Lisa’s spine but she brandished her stick underneath of where Trevor perched. The silence in-between each noise raked on her nerves. How she hadn’t noticed the wildlife dying off was beyond her.

It stumbled into the clearing across from them and Lisa’s breath left her as her chest turned to stone.

Dragging a leg, the creature was so unnaturally made, so broken and melting it looked like a carcass. Shiny white bone coming through the long thick hair that matted and wobbled with every limp. It broke one leg beyond repair, dragging it through the mud and leaves. 

Its electric yellow eyes scared her the most, they weren’t right. Like a cat’s eye, they reflected the moonlight, highlighting just how deep the eyeballs sat in the fleshless sockets.

It took a rasping breath, its entire body heaving with effort like a wounded animal. Lisa nearly felt a strike of pity at the creature’s existence, but the minute it turned to face her and the horrible gurgle came out of the Jersey’s broken, exposed throat it vanished like a night terror.

“Oh my god,” She said in horror. Looking up in the tree to where Trevor perched. That thing attacked him while she wasn’t there. While she’d left in a fit of anger. She’d left a child to fight this lumbering mess. Lisa still had to make him fight it.

The Jersey took a step forward its canine face seeming to shift from a relaxed position to a tight growl, the sinews and veins tensing. 

“Yo-you broken beast! Come!” Lisa shouted through the lump in her throat. There wasn’t time to reconsider if they wanted to live. She’d never met a creature of the night before. Many had not. The church reduced the existence of the creatures after the generations of culling. 

With an echoing howl, it charged on its mutilated limbs that seemed to snap in and out of position to move the creature forward. The flesh rippling like a living thing was thrashing inside. 

Lisa screamed with nothing else to do she stumbled back, tripping on the roots lacing around her ankles. The Jersey opened its mouth that had more teeth than a natural animal could have and slowed to a stop in front of her. Panting, wheezing, and dropping ick from its teeth. She’d never smelt death before. A rotting corpse could never compare.

“Die you ugly fucking bastard!” The tiny voice shouted and with a shiver of leaves, Trevor came rocketing down from the branch. Landing on the Jersey’s back like he was riding a horse. The knife slid between the front shoulder blades of the Jersey. 

Expecting the Jersey to flail like a wild bull Lisa was mute as it turned its head without a flinch to stare at Trevor who was watching the Jersey. The wheezing breaths filling the moment between them.

Trevor, in panic, snatched the knife out and stabbed again with another aimed at the spine. The blade entering like butter. With the second stab, Trevor sat upon it waiting for some kind of reaction, Lisa also watching with bated breath as the Jersey stared. 

A claw shifted and like lightning struck it tore Trevor from its back. Screaming reverberated in the quiet woods. Lisa was up on her feet in a matter of seconds. The Jersey dangling Trevor by his ankle, blood running off the teeth gouged into Trevor’s leg mingling with the foul substance dripping from the Jerseys jaw.

“Trevor!” Lisa screeched as the Jersey made to turn around. To run off into the dark carrying Trevor into the forest.

“Lisa!” Trevor called back, kicking and screaming at the Jersey which never once flinched from a hit.

Running with her stick and an awful growing sense of panic Lisa tore after the Jersey which was loping into the tree line. It’s mismatched legs carrying it faster than she could run. 

Following the noise of Trevor’s screams more than her eyes, Lisa felt her lungs burning and her face aching from the branches zipping past her.

“Trevor!” She screamed back, taking a deep breath. The trees encroaching her sides, the world spinning to match her jack rabbiting heart. 

A shrill scream echoed and spinning around Lisa took off following the noise. Every tree branch looking like something reaching for her, every stumble and miss step she was certain she’d broken her ankle only to carry on. She’d dropped her stick some point, her hands numb.

Sounds of a struggle had her to pushing through a dense bush, each thorn drawing blood and lodging themselves in her pale skin. Her hair torn and stuck to her face.

Bursting through green a wildfire greeted her, and unnatural screams that seemed to come from two places at once. The Jersey was flailing on the dirt path, flames licking every part of its skin. A congregation of clergy men surrounding it with glee as it squirmed and died under their torches.

Her arrival causing many to throw up weapons, hard faces staring at her like she was the enemy. 

“Trevor!” She screamed over the dying wails of the Jersey, flicking her head around the road to find him. Her pulse hammering as she feared he’d met the same end as the rest of his family. 

A muffled scream was to her left. She spun to see one priest holding him down in the dirt; nearly crushing him as he feebly squirmed under the grown man.

“Trevor, oh my god!” She ran over to him throwing the priest off with a shove and dropping to her knees to pick up the battered boy.

“Miss, this is your child?” Another priest coming up beside her, asking like she was a spooked animal. The man she’d shoved to the dirt dusting himself off with a snarl on his lips.

“H-he’s—“ Lisa just stopped and took a gasping breath and nodded instead as she gathered Trevor into her arms tucking him close to her chest and curling around him slightly. They couldn’t know who he was. 

“The beast attacked your family? Where is your husband?” The priest squatted down looking concerned.

Lisa scrambled figure out her best option. Her racing heart and Trevor’s limp body squashed against her blurring her thoughts.

“We were t-travelling to find a new town,” Lisa could still feel the tear tracts on her face and in the back of her mind she knew she had no reason to be wary of the men, but seeing them squashing Trevor and laughing at how the creature thrashed in the fire. Not even bringing up that Trevor would be next in the fire if they found out just who he was.

“My hus-husband, something struck him ill… we lost everything a-and we were on the road, I-I left for just a moment. To get wood.” Lisa lied through her teeth only to hiccup when she reached the real half. 

“I’m so sorry miss, nothing like this should’ve happened to a fair lady like you,” The priest bowed his head and Lisa, through her settling panic, couldn’t tell if he was apologizing for the attack or her supposed widowing.

“Well, she should’ve had a damn brain and not left without a man.” The man she’d pushed growled, and she rose her head to glare.

“Jeremiah, they‘ve gone through enough!” The kind priest hissed, Jeremiah grunting in the background.

The priest stood from the ground grabbing Lisa’s elbow and helping her to stand even with Trevor bundled up close to her. She was unsteady, her legs feeling close to giving out, but she refused to show it. 

“Do you have a horse or a place we can take you? It seems like your hurt and we’d be loath to put you out on your own.” The man offered and Lisa’s gut instinct screamed to say they would be fine. It was the gleam in the silent fire that crackled around a carcass that had her sighing and slumping her shoulders.

The priest must’ve taken it as a relief, but it was closer to defeat. Trevor had mentioned the horse. That the knife came from the horse, and the way the Jersey moved she doubted their mount was still among the living. Weighing her options, she could go back to their makeshift camp but who knows how far from the next town they were. She could take the unspoken offered ride. Both her and Trevor would have to lie like snakes to make it safe to the next town, but they would at least have protection. Even if that protection could be double-edged sword.

“It ate my horse, I’ve not enough money to make it anywhere else, and it hurt Trevor.” She said as she looked down at the leg which she’d been careful around. The poor boy was going to be a mottling of scars before he was even in double digits.

“Then you will both ride with us, we have enough room if you don’t mind the back of a carriage?”

Bowing her head Lisa nodded, “We would be eternally grateful for whatever you may offer us.”

“Of course, and your name was…” The priest trailed off.

“Lisa and yours?” 

“Vilhelm.” He said with a smile guiding Lisa to the back of one of the three carriages.


End file.
